Crowds pack a wholesale market in New Delhi. Already the second most populous country with 1.2 billion people, India is expected to overtake China around 2030.

Manish Swarup
/ AP

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Originally published on November 2, 2011 11:34 am

The world is anticipating the birth of its 7 billionth person, as the United Nations predicts that the milestone baby will be born on Monday, Oct. 31. Demographers say the baby might be born in India, where an average of 51 babies are born every minute.

To get a feeling for the kind of world in which our 7 billionth citizen could grow up, it's worth a visit to the place that India's Census Bureau has identified as the densest place in the country.

Northeast Delhi has more than 29,000 people per square kilometer. That's only slightly more than Manhattan — but Manhattan is a high-rise city, with people stacked up tens of stories high.

Most buildings in northeast Delhi have no more than four or five floors — so the people are crowded into a smaller area, the mosh pit of modern Indian life.

That life flows in every kind of conveyance: motorized rickshaws crammed with a dozen people each; motorcycles carrying five family members at time. There are people everywhere.

Most Americans know what it's like to be part of a sea of people at a rally or a rock concert: It's exhilarating and exhausting, but sooner or later, it comes to an end. The noise stops. The people go home.

Now, try to imagine a place where the crush of people and the noise and the motion never stop.

If young Mr. or Miss Seven Billion were to be born here, it might be at a hospital like the Swami Dayanand Medical Centre.

The maternity ward is as loud and crowded as anyplace else in northeast Delhi, a dingy hall with 30 or so beds, where young women lie — sometimes two to a bed — with their new babies.

Dr. Venu Gopal, the medical director, says between 20 and 30 women give birth at this hospital every day. He is not optimistic about the crowded world that awaits the babies born here.

"The culture is going to change," he says. "There will be a lot of intolerance, and more physical violence, probably. And water and food are going to be a major crisis situation."

That is, Gopal says, unless the rest of us make room for the 7 billionth baby in a more hospitable world.

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AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

The United Nations says rapid population growth is among many factors contributing to the famine in the Horn of Africa. This, as the world anticipates the birth of its seven billionth person. The U.N. is predicting that the baby will be born tomorrow, October 31st. Demographers say the birth could take place in India, where an average of 51 babies are born every minute.

To get a feeling for the kind of world in which our seven billionth citizen could grow up, NPR's Corey Flintoff went to the part of Delhi that is considered by the Indian Census Bureau to be the most densely populated place in that country.

(SOUNDBITE OF TRAFFIC)

CORY FLINTOFF, BYLINE: When the seven billionth person is born into the world, it could well be here. This is northeastern Delhi. It's the most densely populated neighborhood in the most densely populated city in India. And as you stand here in the street you can see it. Every conveyance that goes by, every auto rickshaw is crammed with as many as 12 or 13, 14 people, every bicycle has two or three people on it, every motorcycle has five, every shop has a line of perhaps 10 to 20 people outside it.

(SOUNDBITE OF TRAFFIC)

FLINTOFF: There are literally people crowded everywhere, sitting along the curbs, lining the balconies.

(SOUNDBITE OF TRAFFIC)

FLINTOFF: Most Americans know what it's like to be part of a sea of people at a rally or a rock concert. It's exhilarating and exhausting, but sooner or later, it comes to an end. The noise stops. The people go home. Now, try to imagine a place where the crush of people and the noise and the motion never stop.

(SOUNDBITE OF TRAFFIC)

FLINTOFF: The census of India says there are more than 29,000 people per square kilometer in northeast Delhi, cheek to cheek in the mosh-pit of modern Indian life. If young Mr. or Miss Seven Billion were be to be born here, it might be at a hospital like the Swami Dayanand Medical Centre.

(SOUNDBITE OF A CROWD)

FLINTOFF: The maternity ward is as loud and crowded as anyplace else in Northeast Delhi, a dingy hall with 30 or so beds where young women, sometimes two to a bed, lie with their new babies.

Dr. Venu Gopal, the medical director says between 20 and 30 women give birth at this hospital every day. Dr. Gopal is not optimistic about the crowded world that awaits the babies born here:

DR. VENU GOPAL: The culture is going to change. There will be a lot of intolerance and it will be more physical, violence probably. And water and food, going to be a major crisis situation.

FLINTOFF: That is, he says, unless the rest of us make room for the seven billionth baby in a more hospitable world.

Corey Flintoff, NPR News, New Delhi.

CORNISH: Tomorrow, you can hear more about the significance of the growing population on MORNING EDITION's series Seven Billion and Counting.